En fråga om vad och hur: Att främja social hållbarhet i samband med renovering av miljonprogrammen

During ten years, 1965-1974, one million homes were built in Sweden, part of what is known as the million homes programme. Neither before nor after has such an intensity of building taken place. These houses were often built in the outskirts of the cities, following modernist ideals and using modern building techniques. Today, nearly 50 years after the project began, there is an increasingly urgent need to renovate these houses. On top of that, many of the million homes areas display social problems and in many ways the houses and areas do not meet the needs of those currently living there. Investments are required in order to upgrade the physical environment as well as strengthening the areas socially, and it is reasonable to believe these two can be coordinated. The purpose of this essay is to investigate how it is possible to promote social sustainability while upgrading the million homes areas physically. A pre-study has been conducted, based on reviewing literature and making interviews, and four theoretical themes have been identified as important for understanding the connection between social sustainability and renovation. These are social sustainability, governance, social capital, and public places. Six concrete examples are presented and analysed using the theoretical framework, in order to identify the most relevant approaches and types of investments. The results show that when it comes to promoting social sustainability in the context of renovating the million homes areas, it is a matter of knowing what to do and how to do it. How to do it is about the attitude with which actors addresses the problems and which modes of operation they choose to use. The guiding terms are mobilisation, collection of knowledge, long-sightedness and flexibility. What to do is more about aimed investments to promote social sustainability, and can take many forms, such as projects aimed at children and teenagers, investments in public areas, or restructuring the apartments to meet the needs those households inhabiting them. Small investments can create snowball effects and it is important to rather than trying to do everything at once, make priorities and work at the issues one step at the time.